The present invention relates to devices for shielding or protecting an operator of a medical tool from harmful aerosols, blood and other substances created during medical procedures and the like and, in particular, a combination vacuum and physical barrier attachment for such tools.
The medical community has long recognized the need to shield medical practitioners and patients from harmful substances, such as: noxious gases, infected body fluids, tissue debris and bone chips, produced in medical and dental procedures. Many previous systems have been designed to draw a vacuum in order to remove harmful substances eminating from a patient (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,447 of Gauthier). Still other systems have combined a vacuum source with a physical shield for added protection (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,171 of Howorth). Although the prior art systems provide the operator some protection, the recent acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has produced a need for providing greater protection for health care workers. The present technology is inadequate for this purpose.
In particular, medical procedures such as drilling, cutting with a reciprocating saw or the like which are common procedures for surgeons, especially orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons, produce an aerosol of human tissue that becomes suspended in the air around the site of the operation and which may contain AIDS virus, if the patient is infected. Such aerosols can come into contact with mucus membranes of medical personnel in the operating field and infect such personnel with the virus.
At the time of filing of the present application, it is estimated that AIDS has already claimed 28,000 lives in the United States and an estimated 1.5 million Americans have been infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus which is transmitted through body fluids has been isolated in blood, semen, saliva, tears, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, cervical secretions, breast milk, bone and other tissues. There are reported cases of HIV infections acquired by health care workers in the workplace and it is estimated that the number of unreported cases is large. Several of these workers acquired the virus when infected body fluids or particles came in contact with exposed or uncovered mucous membranes or surfaces that were abraded, cut or otherwise open to allow the virus to penetrate the skin.
To shield health care workers from the AIDS virus, special precautions in the use of surgical and dental equipment should be taken. As was noted above use of such medical equipment often results in the release of AIDS or otherwise infected material from a patient into the surrounding air.
This is especially true in the use of medical drills, routers and saws which produce in the surrounding air a fine aerosol of fluids, tissue and bone chips or may even cause a stream of blood to spurt into the air. Similarly, endoscopes and other tubes inserted in patients for various medical procedures can result in the release into the surrounding air droplets or an aerosol of infected blood, saliva or other body fluids. Such airborn virus floats around the operating room and may encounter and invade a medical practioner in the room.
In light of the deadliness of the AIDS virus and the need to remove virtually all of the virus carrying aerosol produced in a medical procedure, present shielding systems are inadequate. Conventional barriers, whether physical or vacuum-producing, that are situated away from the operating tool either limit visibility and/or mobility or expose the operator to the possibly infected aerosol. When using surgical and dental equipment, a medical practitioner must often work between the vacuum source or physical barrier and the operating site, thus exposing the practitioner to infection or the barrier restricts the practitioner's view or movement of the tool.
Point of operation protection is needed without loss of mobility and/or visibility while maximizing protection. Vacuum barriers placed directly onto the operating surface are not well-suited to medical procedures and vacuum barriers positioned on the instrument itself typically limit the area of protection, as the vacuum only draws in air from the area nearest to the tool.
Existing physical shields are also inadequate. Such shields cannot be placed close enough to the operating site to provide effective protection without greatly reducing operator mobility and/or visibility and physical barriers do not remove the aerosol from the ambient air. Similarly, present shielding systems that combine a vacuum barrier with a physical shield are ineffective because the shield can become soiled and this in turn decreases visibility or the operator must work between the shield and the operating site to use the equipment. When using surgical equipment, the operator often must be able to move in many directions to get the correct point of contact or leverage to use the equipment. Additionally, present shielding cannot protect medical practitioners from spurts of blood because vacuum barriers are ineffective on such streams and physical barriers cannot be utilized without the aforementioned shortcomings.